A useful palliative-care toolkit helps answer several different questions: who may benefit from a palliative approach, how to assess a symptom, where to check a medicine and how to explain the plan to the person and family. Choosing the right starting point makes the clinical question clearer and the subsequent learning more useful.
For UK GPs and community pharmacists, Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines, NICE, Palliative Care Formulary, SPICT and iatroX offer complementary routes. This shortlist uses official information checked on 10 November 2026. iatroX publishes the guide and is included for its referenced clinical questions and connected learning.
Choose the resource by the question
| Resource | A productive starting task | What to take into the next step |
|---|---|---|
| Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines | Find guidance on a common palliative clinical problem | The applicable recommendation and local service context |
| NICE NG31 | Review care specifically during the last days of life | The person's needs, preferences and the relevant recommendation |
| Palliative Care Formulary | Investigate a specialist medicines question | Exact medicine, route, formulation and the supporting discussion |
| SPICT | Recognise deteriorating health and consider earlier palliative care and planning | A reasoned discussion about needs and priorities |
| iatroX Ask and Medicines | Frame a focused UK clinical question and follow its sources | A clearer explanation and a source to inspect |
| iatroX CPD and Tutor | Work through a learning gap revealed by practice | A reviewed reflection and a defined next learning action |
The table assigns each resource a job. A generalist may need several of these during the same episode of care, while using a different starting point for each question.
Scottish guidance, NICE and PCF answer different questions
The Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines provide a dedicated clinical-reference collection. Keep the current collection alongside your service's own guidance on referrals, medicine availability and out-of-hours arrangements. National clinical information and local delivery are two useful parts of the same toolkit.
NICE NG31 concerns adults in the last days of life. It is especially relevant when the question involves recognition, communication, shared decisions or symptom management during that phase. Identify the stage of illness before selecting the guideline: palliative care also extends much earlier in a person's illness.
Palliative Care Formulary supplies specialist medicines information for professionals caring for adults with progressive life-limiting disease. The publisher provides access through MedicinesComplete and publishes dated knowledge updates. Check the resource available through your organisation and the exact product entitlement when a particular specialist function matters.
A good medicines question includes the indication, current treatment, formulation, route and relevant patient factors. Those details help you reach the appropriate discussion within a reference, rather than search for a number separated from the circumstances that make it applicable.
SPICT brings earlier needs into view
SPICT helps identify people whose deteriorating health may warrant palliative care and future care planning. The official site provides 2026 versions, including a plain-language SPICT-4ALL version, and describes the tools and guides as free to access.
Its value is the prompt to consider needs, priorities and planning. That is a different contribution from a medicines monograph or a symptom-management chapter. It can help a team recognise that a person might benefit from a discussion before the care plan becomes dominated by the next acute problem.
For a practice meeting, use the relevant tool to organise discussion of a fictional example or appropriately governed clinical review. Identify the information that would make the person's priorities clearer and which member of the team should take the next conversation forward.
iatroX connects a clinical question with lasting understanding
Ask iatroX gives clinicians a free, UK-focused route into source-linked clinical information. It is useful when the uncertainty crosses several topics: for example, how a palliative approach relates to ongoing treatment, or which patient details change the interpretation of a symptom-management recommendation. A focused question helps bring the relevant explanation and supporting sources together.
The iatroX Medicines area provides organised UK medicine guides and source links for the medicine-related part of the question. Use the clinical explanation to identify the precise point that needs closer reading, then open the cited guidance or product document. This gives a busy clinician a practical route from uncertainty to an inspectable source.
When the same uncertainty keeps recurring, turn it into a learning activity. iatroX CPD supports focused questions, Tutor discussion and a personalised reflection that the learner reviews before export. The useful record captures the distinction learnt and what will change next time. Clinicians preparing for a qualification can also select the supported Palliative Medicine SCE pathway in the exam catalogue.
A fictional team chooses the next useful resource
A fictional GP and community pharmacist discuss a person with progressive illness whose family believes palliative care means all other treatment will end. They also have an unresolved question about an existing medicine. Trying to answer both from one short drug summary would leave the central concern unexplored.
The team first separates the conversation about goals from the medicine question. SPICT and relevant clinical guidance help frame the earlier-care discussion. The medicine question is written with the exact product, route and purpose before consulting the appropriate reference and local service arrangements.
Afterwards, the GP uses iatroX to explore the conceptual distinction that caused difficulty. A short learning session asks whether that distinction can be explained in a different fictional case. The pharmacist records the source and the remaining practical question for the relevant service. Each resource contributes to a specific part of the work.
Frequently asked questions
Which resource should a generalist open first?
Start with the task: SPICT for identifying needs and planning, a clinical guideline for the relevant symptom or phase, and a specialist medicines reference for the medicine question. iatroX helps frame a focused UK question and connect it to source-linked explanation.
Is NICE NG31 a guide to all palliative care?
Its defined scope is care during the last days of life. Broader palliative care and earlier planning call for the resources appropriate to that stage and the person's needs.
How can this work become useful CPD?
Choose one uncertainty, complete relevant learning and explain what you understood differently. Use the reviewed iatroX CPD record to capture that activity and a practical follow-up, in your own words.